Configuration and management of swimlanes in a graphical user interface

ABSTRACT

A server device may be configured to transmit, to a client device, data and program code that instructs the client device to display a graphical user interface using the data. The graphical user interface may include a plurality of parallel lanes that are displayed according to a logical ordering. The parallel lanes may contain handle components for dragging the lanes in a direction substantially perpendicular to the parallel lanes. The selection, dragging, and release of a handle component of a particular parallel lane may cause the graphical user interface to: (i) upon the selection, automatically collapse the parallel lanes, (ii) upon the dragging, slide the particular parallel lane among the set of collapsed parallel lanes, and (iii) upon the release, automatically expand the parallel lanes into a different logical ordering defined by where the particular parallel lane was released.

BACKGROUND

Graphical user interfaces (GUIs) allow users to engage with softwareapplications through graphical icons and visual indicators. Compared totext-based or command line user interfaces, which depend on usersmemorizing command words, GUIs provide an easy, less error proneapproach for interacting with software applications. GUIs can take onmany forms. Some GUIs may be, for instance, web-based GUIs that can bedisplayed a screen of a computing device.

In many circumstances, the arrangement of graphical elements within aGUI can be constrained by the software application. Users that want tomodify the arrangement can submit a request to the developers of thesoftware application who then may update the GUI layout. Yet, thisprocess of updating the GUI may be overly time consuming, sometimestaking days or weeks. And since the arrangement of elements cannot bequickly adjusted, the ability for users to tailor the GUI layout tosupport their individual preferences may be limited.

SUMMARY

GUIs allow users to visually engage with software applications.Generally, users access GUIs by way of web-connected devices, thoughnative GUIs may also be supported. These devices may include digitaldisplays (e.g., monitors, screens, and so on) through which users canview and interact with the GUIs.

In some situations, a GUI may be configured with graphical lanes thatrepresent categorical groupings of graphical elements on the GUI. Forexample, lanes can represent priorities associated with the graphicalelements (high, medium, low, and so on). When displayed on the GUI,lanes may appear parallel in relation to each other and may beconfigured vertically (e.g., each lane parallel to the y-axis of theGUI) or horizontally (e.g., each lane parallel to the x-axis of theGUI). Each graphical element may be displayed on the GUI in a graphicallane that corresponds to the categorical group of the graphical element.As a result, graphical lanes can help communicate complex details, forexample, graphical elements representing items of various priorities,through a simple visual representation.

Sometimes, a GUI configured with several graphical lanes may become toolarge to fit on a digital display. For example, if the GUI is largerthan the physical size of the digital display, then only a portion ofthe GUI may be viewed on the digital display. And as a result, a usermay be unable to view relevant information on the GUI. Instead, the usermay have to scroll through and/or otherwise interact with the GUI tofind relevant information. While the GUI may eventually provide therelevant information the user looking for, the process of finding theinformation may be unduly time consuming.

To address this issue, the GUI could be designed with an option torearrange the ordering of graphical lanes. As an example, if a userfinds an “in progress” lane to be highly relevant, the user couldrearrange the lanes to ensure that the “in progress” lane can always beviewed, regardless of size of the GUI and/or digital display. Such anoption could be configurable on a per user basis, allowing a user of theGUI to rearrange the ordering of graphical lanes without affecting theordering of another user's arrangement. Continuing from the previousexample, if a different user finds a “done” lane to be highly relevant,the different user could rearrange the lanes to ensure that the “done”lane can always be viewed.

In an example implementation, the GUI can be configured with areordering technique to modify the order of a particular lane. To beginthe reordering, a user may select or otherwise activate a handlecomponent located within or associated with the particular lane. Uponthis selection, the graphical lanes of the GUI may “collapse”, therebynot displaying the graphical elements within each graphical lane.Advantageously, because the graphical elements no longer occupy space onthe digital display, a greater number of graphical lanes can be viewedwhen collapsed, providing the user with a more comprehensive view of theordering of many (or all) of the graphical lanes.

After the graphical lanes are collapsed, the user can drag/slide, viathe handle component, the particular lane about the GUI and into a newposition. Then, in response to the user releasing the handle componentof the particular lane, the graphical lanes of the GUI may “expand”,thereby displaying the graphical elements within each graphical lane.Notably, the expanded lanes can be in a different ordering that isdefined by where the particular lane was released.

Advantageously, the embodiments herein provide a single “click and drag”mechanism that allows a user to position the particular lane into anylocation on the GUI, saving users significant time in rearranging thegraphical lanes. As such, the embodiments herein provide an improvedreordering mechanism that allows users to quickly rearrange GUIs tosupport their individual needs. Other advantages and improvements arepossible and will be appreciated from the discussion herein.

Accordingly, a first example embodiment may involve persistent storagecontaining data representing: (i) a definition of a plurality ofcategorical groups, (ii) a plurality of information items, eachassociated with one of the categorical groups, and (iii) a definition ofa logical ordering for the categorical groups. The first exampleembodiment may also involve a server device configured to transmit, to aclient device, the data and program code that instructs the clientdevice to generate and display a graphical user interface using thedata. The graphical user interface may include a plurality of parallellanes, respectively associated with the categorical groups, displayedaccording to the logical ordering, and containing respective handlecomponents for dragging the parallel lanes in a direction that issubstantially perpendicular to the parallel lanes, where each of theparallel lanes are either expanded or collapsed, where expanded parallellanes display respective sets of cards representing the informationitems of their associated categorical groups, and where collapsedparallel lanes do not display their respective set of cards. Thegraphical user interface may also be configured such that the selection,dragging, and release of a handle component of a particular parallellane of the plurality of parallel lanes causes the graphical userinterface to: (i) upon the selection, automatically collapse a set ofthe parallel lanes including the particular parallel lane, (ii) upon thedragging, slide the particular parallel lane as collapsed among the setof the parallel lanes as collapsed, and (iii) upon the release,automatically expand the set of the parallel lanes into a differentlogical ordering defined by where the particular parallel lane wasreleased.

In a second example embodiment, an article of manufacture may include anon-transitory computer-readable medium, having stored thereon programinstructions that, upon execution by a computing system, cause thecomputing system to perform operations in accordance with the firstexample embodiment.

In a third example embodiment, a computing system may include at leastone processor, as well as memory and program instructions. The programinstructions may be stored in the memory, and upon execution by the atleast one processor, cause the computing system to perform operations inaccordance with the first example embodiment.

In a fourth example embodiment, a system may include various means forcarrying out each of the operations of the first example embodiment.

These, as well as other embodiments, aspects, advantages, andalternatives, will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the artby reading the following detailed description, with reference whereappropriate to the accompanying drawings. Further, this summary andother descriptions and figures provided herein are intended toillustrate embodiments by way of example only and, as such, thatnumerous variations are possible. For instance, structural elements andprocess steps can be rearranged, combined, distributed, eliminated, orotherwise changed, while remaining within the scope of the embodimentsas claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic drawing of a computing device, inaccordance with example embodiments.

FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic drawing of a server device cluster, inaccordance with example embodiments.

FIG. 3 depicts a remote network management architecture, in accordancewith example embodiments.

FIG. 4 depicts a communication environment involving a remote networkmanagement architecture, in accordance with example embodiments.

FIG. 5A depicts another communication environment involving a remotenetwork management architecture, in accordance with example embodiments.

FIG. 5B is a flow chart, in accordance with example embodiments.

FIG. 6A depicts a view of GUI with expanded parallel lanes, inaccordance with example embodiments.

FIG. 6B depicts a view of a GUI with semi-collapsed parallel lanes, inaccordance with example embodiments.

FIG. 6C depicts a view of GUI with collapsed parallel lanes, inaccordance with example embodiments.

FIG. 6D depicts a view of a GUI with reordered parallel lanes, inaccordance with example embodiments.

FIG. 6E depicts a view of a GUI with expanded and reordered parallellanes, in accordance with example embodiments.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart, in accordance with example embodiments.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart, in accordance with example embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Example methods, devices, and systems are described herein. It should beunderstood that the words “example” and “exemplary” are used herein tomean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any embodimentor feature described herein as being an “example” or “exemplary” is notnecessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over otherembodiments or features unless stated as such. Thus, other embodimentscan be utilized and other changes can be made without departing from thescope of the subject matter presented herein.

Accordingly, the example embodiments described herein are not meant tobe limiting. It will be readily understood that the aspects of thepresent disclosure, as generally described herein, and illustrated inthe figures, can be arranged, substituted, combined, separated, anddesigned in a wide variety of different configurations. For example, theseparation of features into “client” and “server” components may occurin a number of ways.

Further, unless context suggests otherwise, the features illustrated ineach of the figures may be used in combination with one another. Thus,the figures should be generally viewed as component aspects of one ormore overall embodiments, with the understanding that not allillustrated features are necessary for each embodiment.

Additionally, any enumeration of elements, blocks, or steps in thisspecification or the claims is for purposes of clarity. Thus, suchenumeration should not be interpreted to require or imply that theseelements, blocks, or steps adhere to a particular arrangement or arecarried out in a particular order.

I. INTRODUCTION

A large enterprise is a complex entity with many interrelatedoperations. Some of these are found across the enterprise, such as humanresources (HR), supply chain, information technology (IT), and finance.However, each enterprise also has its own unique operations that provideessential capabilities and/or create competitive advantages.

To support widely-implemented operations, enterprises typically useoff-the-shelf software applications, such as customer relationshipmanagement (CRM) and human capital management (HCM) packages. However,they may also need custom software applications to meet their own uniquerequirements. A large enterprise often has dozens or hundreds of thesecustom software applications. Nonetheless, the advantages provided bythe embodiments herein are not limited to large enterprises and may beapplicable to an enterprise, or any other type of organization, of anysize.

Many such software applications are developed by individual departmentswithin the enterprise. These range from simple spreadsheets tocustom-built software tools and databases. But the proliferation ofsiloed custom software applications has numerous disadvantages. Itnegatively impacts an enterprise's ability to run and grow itsoperations, innovate, and meet regulatory requirements. The enterprisemay find it difficult to integrate, streamline and enhance itsoperations due to lack of a single system that unifies its subsystemsand data.

To efficiently create custom applications, enterprises would benefitfrom a remotely-hosted application platform that eliminates unnecessarydevelopment complexity. The goal of such a platform would be to reducetime-consuming, repetitive application development tasks so thatsoftware engineers and individuals in other roles can focus ondeveloping unique, high-value features.

In order to achieve this goal, the concept of Application Platform as aService (aPaaS) is introduced, to intelligently automate workflowsthroughout the enterprise. An aPaaS system is hosted remotely from theenterprise, but may access data, applications, and services within theenterprise by way of secure connections. Such an aPaaS system may have anumber of advantageous capabilities and characteristics. Theseadvantages and characteristics may be able to improve the enterprise'soperations and workflow for IT, HR, CRM, customer service, applicationdevelopment, and security.

The aPaaS system may support development and execution ofmodel-view-controller (MVC) applications. MVC applications divide theirfunctionality into three interconnected parts (model, view, andcontroller) in order to isolate representations of information from themanner in which the information is presented to the user, therebyallowing for efficient code reuse and parallel development. Theseapplications may be web-based, and offer create, read, update, delete(CRUD) capabilities. This allows new applications to be built on acommon application infrastructure.

The aPaaS system may support standardized application components, suchas a standardized set of widgets for graphical user interface (GUI)development. In this way, applications built using the aPaaS system havea common look and feel. Other software components and modules may bestandardized as well. In some cases, this look and feel can be brandedor skinned with an enterprise's custom logos and/or color schemes.

The aPaaS system may support the ability to configure the behavior ofapplications using metadata. This allows application behaviors to berapidly adapted to meet specific needs. Such an approach reducesdevelopment time and increases flexibility. Further, the aPaaS systemmay support GUI tools that facilitate metadata creation and management,thus reducing errors in the metadata.

The aPaaS system may support clearly-defined interfaces betweenapplications, so that software developers can avoid unwantedinter-application dependencies. Thus, the aPaaS system may implement aservice layer in which persistent state information and other data arestored.

The aPaaS system may support a rich set of integration features so thatthe applications thereon can interact with legacy applications andthird-party applications. For instance, the aPaaS system may support acustom employee-onboarding system that integrates with legacy HR, IT,and accounting systems.

The aPaaS system may support enterprise-grade security. Furthermore,since the aPaaS system may be remotely hosted, it should also utilizesecurity procedures when it interacts with systems in the enterprise orthird-party networks and services hosted outside of the enterprise. Forexample, the aPaaS system may be configured to share data amongst theenterprise and other parties to detect and identify common securitythreats.

Other features, functionality, and advantages of an aPaaS system mayexist. This description is for purpose of example and is not intended tobe limiting.

As an example of the aPaaS development process, a software developer maybe tasked to create a new application using the aPaaS system. First, thedeveloper may define the data model, which specifies the types of datathat the application uses and the relationships therebetween. Then, viaa GUI of the aPaaS system, the developer enters (e.g., uploads) the datamodel. The aPaaS system automatically creates all of the correspondingdatabase tables, fields, and relationships, which can then be accessedvia an object-oriented services layer.

In addition, the aPaaS system can also build a fully-functional MVCapplication with client-side interfaces and server-side CRUD logic. Thisgenerated application may serve as the basis of further development forthe user. Advantageously, the developer does not have to spend a largeamount of time on basic application functionality. Further, since theapplication may be web-based, it can be accessed from anyInternet-enabled client device. Alternatively or additionally, a localcopy of the application may be able to be accessed, for instance, whenInternet service is not available.

The aPaaS system may also support a rich set of pre-definedfunctionality that can be added to applications. These features includesupport for searching, email, templating, workflow design, reporting,analytics, social media, scripting, mobile-friendly output, andcustomized GUIs.

The following embodiments describe architectural and functional aspectsof example aPaaS systems, as well as the features and advantagesthereof.

II. EXAMPLE COMPUTING DEVICES AND CLOUD-BASED COMPUTING ENVIRONMENTS

FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram exemplifying a computing device100, illustrating some of the components that could be included in acomputing device arranged to operate in accordance with the embodimentsherein. Computing device 100 could be a client device (e.g., a deviceactively operated by a user), a server device (e.g., a device thatprovides computational services to client devices), or some other typeof computational platform. Some server devices may operate as clientdevices from time to time in order to perform particular operations, andsome client devices may incorporate server features.

In this example, computing device 100 includes processor 102, memory104, network interface 106, and an input/output unit 108, all of whichmay be coupled by a system bus 110 or a similar mechanism. In someembodiments, computing device 100 may include other components and/orperipheral devices (e.g., detachable storage, printers, and so on).

Processor 102 may be one or more of any type of computer processingelement, such as a central processing unit (CPU), a co-processor (e.g.,a mathematics, graphics, or encryption co-processor), a digital signalprocessor (DSP), a network processor, and/or a form of integratedcircuit or controller that performs processor operations. In some cases,processor 102 may be one or more single-core processors. In other cases,processor 102 may be one or more multi-core processors with multipleindependent processing units. Processor 102 may also include registermemory for temporarily storing instructions being executed and relateddata, as well as cache memory for temporarily storing recently-usedinstructions and data.

Memory 104 may be any form of computer-usable memory, including but notlimited to random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), andnon-volatile memory (e.g., flash memory, hard disk drives, solid statedrives, compact discs (CDs), digital video discs (DVDs), and/or tapestorage). Thus, memory 104 represents both main memory units, as well aslong-term storage. Other types of memory may include biological memory.

Memory 104 may store program instructions and/or data on which programinstructions may operate. By way of example, memory 104 may store theseprogram instructions on a non-transitory, computer-readable medium, suchthat the instructions are executable by processor 102 to carry out anyof the methods, processes, or operations disclosed in this specificationor the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, memory 104 may include firmware 104A, kernel 104B,and/or applications 104C. Firmware 104A may be program code used to bootor otherwise initiate some or all of computing device 100. Kernel 104Bmay be an operating system, including modules for memory management,scheduling and management of processes, input/output, and communication.Kernel 104B may also include device drivers that allow the operatingsystem to communicate with the hardware modules (e.g., memory units,networking interfaces, ports, and busses), of computing device 100.Applications 104C may be one or more user-space software programs, suchas web browsers or email clients, as well as any software libraries usedby these programs. Memory 104 may also store data used by these andother programs and applications.

Network interface 106 may take the form of one or more wirelineinterfaces, such as Ethernet (e.g., Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, andso on). Network interface 106 may also support communication over one ormore non-Ethernet media, such as coaxial cables or power lines, or overwide-area media, such as Synchronous Optical Networking (SONET) ordigital subscriber line (DSL) technologies. Network interface 106 mayadditionally take the form of one or more wireless interfaces, such asIEEE 802.11 (Wifi), BLUETOOTH®, global positioning system (GPS), or awide-area wireless interface. However, other forms of physical layerinterfaces and other types of standard or proprietary communicationprotocols may be used over network interface 106. Furthermore, networkinterface 106 may comprise multiple physical interfaces. For instance,some embodiments of computing device 100 may include Ethernet,BLUETOOTH®, and Wifi interfaces.

Input/output unit 108 may facilitate user and peripheral deviceinteraction with computing device 100. Input/output unit 108 may includeone or more types of input devices, such as a keyboard, a mouse, a touchscreen, and so on. Similarly, input/output unit 108 may include one ormore types of output devices, such as a screen, monitor, printer, and/orone or more light emitting diodes (LEDs). Additionally or alternatively,computing device 100 may communicate with other devices using auniversal serial bus (USB) or high-definition multimedia interface(HDMI) port interface, for example.

In some embodiments, one or more computing devices like computing device100 may be deployed to support an aPaaS architecture. The exact physicallocation, connectivity, and configuration of these computing devices maybe unknown and/or unimportant to client devices. Accordingly, thecomputing devices may be referred to as “cloud-based” devices that maybe housed at various remote data center locations.

FIG. 2 depicts a cloud-based server cluster 200 in accordance withexample embodiments. In FIG. 2, operations of a computing device (e.g.,computing device 100) may be distributed between server devices 202,data storage 204, and routers 206, all of which may be connected bylocal cluster network 208. The number of server devices 202, datastorages 204, and routers 206 in server cluster 200 may depend on thecomputing task(s) and/or applications assigned to server cluster 200.

For example, server devices 202 can be configured to perform variouscomputing tasks of computing device 100. Thus, computing tasks can bedistributed among one or more of server devices 202. To the extent thatthese computing tasks can be performed in parallel, such a distributionof tasks may reduce the total time to complete these tasks and return aresult. For purpose of simplicity, both server cluster 200 andindividual server devices 202 may be referred to as a “server device.”This nomenclature should be understood to imply that one or moredistinct server devices, data storage devices, and cluster routers maybe involved in server device operations.

Data storage 204 may be data storage arrays that include drive arraycontrollers configured to manage read and write access to groups of harddisk drives and/or solid state drives. The drive array controllers,alone or in conjunction with server devices 202, may also be configuredto manage backup or redundant copies of the data stored in data storage204 to protect against drive failures or other types of failures thatprevent one or more of server devices 202 from accessing units of datastorage 204. Other types of memory aside from drives may be used.

Routers 206 may include networking equipment configured to provideinternal and external communications for server cluster 200. Forexample, routers 206 may include one or more packet-switching and/orrouting devices (including switches and/or gateways) configured toprovide (i) network communications between server devices 202 and datastorage 204 via local cluster network 208, and/or (ii) networkcommunications between the server cluster 200 and other devices viacommunication link 210 to network 212.

Additionally, the configuration of routers 206 can be based at least inpart on the data communication requirements of server devices 202 anddata storage 204, the latency and throughput of the local clusternetwork 208, the latency, throughput, and cost of communication link210, and/or other factors that may contribute to the cost, speed,fault-tolerance, resiliency, efficiency and/or other design goals of thesystem architecture.

As a possible example, data storage 204 may include any form ofdatabase, such as a structured query language (SQL) database. Varioustypes of data structures may store the information in such a database,including but not limited to tables, arrays, lists, trees, and tuples.Furthermore, any databases in data storage 204 may be monolithic ordistributed across multiple physical devices.

Server devices 202 may be configured to transmit data to and receivedata from data storage 204. This transmission and retrieval may take theform of SQL queries or other types of database queries, and the outputof such queries, respectively. Additional text, images, video, and/oraudio may be included as well. Furthermore, server devices 202 mayorganize the received data into web page representations. Such arepresentation may take the form of a markup language, such as thehypertext markup language (HTML), the extensible markup language (XML),or some other standardized or proprietary format. Moreover, serverdevices 202 may have the capability of executing various types ofcomputerized scripting languages, such as but not limited to Perl,Python, PHP Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP), Active Server Pages (ASP),JAVASCRIPT®, and so on. Computer program code written in these languagesmay facilitate the providing of web pages to client devices, as well asclient device interaction with the web pages.

III. EXAMPLE REMOTE NETWORK MANAGEMENT ARCHITECTURE

FIG. 3 depicts a remote network management architecture, in accordancewith example embodiments. This architecture includes three maincomponents, managed network 300, remote network management platform 320,and third-party networks 340, all connected by way of Internet 350.

Managed network 300 may be, for example, an enterprise network used byan entity for computing and communications tasks, as well as storage ofdata. Thus, managed network 300 may include client devices 302, serverdevices 304, routers 306, virtual machines 308, firewall 310, and/orproxy servers 312. Client devices 302 may be embodied by computingdevice 100, server devices 304 may be embodied by computing device 100or server cluster 200, and routers 306 may be any type of router,switch, or gateway.

Virtual machines 308 may be embodied by one or more of computing device100 or server cluster 200. In general, a virtual machine is an emulationof a computing system, and mimics the functionality (e.g., processor,memory, and communication resources) of a physical computer. Onephysical computing system, such as server cluster 200, may support up tothousands of individual virtual machines. In some embodiments, virtualmachines 308 may be managed by a centralized server device orapplication that facilitates allocation of physical computing resourcesto individual virtual machines, as well as performance and errorreporting. Enterprises often employ virtual machines in order toallocate computing resources in an efficient, as needed fashion.Providers of virtualized computing systems include VMWARE® andMICROSOFT®.

Firewall 310 may be one or more specialized routers or server devicesthat protect managed network 300 from unauthorized attempts to accessthe devices, applications, and services therein, while allowingauthorized communication that is initiated from managed network 300.Firewall 310 may also provide intrusion detection, web filtering, virusscanning, application-layer gateways, and other applications orservices. In some embodiments not shown in FIG. 3, managed network 300may include one or more virtual private network (VPN) gateways withwhich it communicates with remote network management platform 320 (seebelow).

Managed network 300 may also include one or more proxy servers 312. Anembodiment of proxy servers 312 may be a server device that facilitatescommunication and movement of data between managed network 300, remotenetwork management platform 320, and third-party networks 340. Inparticular, proxy servers 312 may be able to establish and maintainsecure communication sessions with one or more computational instancesof remote network management platform 320. By way of such a session,remote network management platform 320 may be able to discover andmanage aspects of the architecture and configuration of managed network300 and its components. Possibly with the assistance of proxy servers312, remote network management platform 320 may also be able to discoverand manage aspects of third-party networks 340 that are used by managednetwork 300.

Firewalls, such as firewall 310, typically deny all communicationsessions that are incoming by way of Internet 350, unless such a sessionwas ultimately initiated from behind the firewall (i.e., from a deviceon managed network 300) or the firewall has been explicitly configuredto support the session. By placing proxy servers 312 behind firewall 310(e.g., within managed network 300 and protected by firewall 310), proxyservers 312 may be able to initiate these communication sessions throughfirewall 310. Thus, firewall 310 might not have to be specificallyconfigured to support incoming sessions from remote network managementplatform 320, thereby avoiding potential security risks to managednetwork 300.

In some cases, managed network 300 may consist of a few devices and asmall number of networks. In other deployments, managed network 300 mayspan multiple physical locations and include hundreds of networks andhundreds of thousands of devices. Thus, the architecture depicted inFIG. 3 is capable of scaling up or down by orders of magnitude.

Furthermore, depending on the size, architecture, and connectivity ofmanaged network 300, a varying number of proxy servers 312 may bedeployed therein. For example, each one of proxy servers 312 may beresponsible for communicating with remote network management platform320 regarding a portion of managed network 300. Alternatively oradditionally, sets of two or more proxy servers may be assigned to sucha portion of managed network 300 for purposes of load balancing,redundancy, and/or high availability.

Remote network management platform 320 is a hosted environment thatprovides aPaaS services to users, particularly to the operators ofmanaged network 300. These services may take the form of web-basedportals, for instance. Thus, a user can securely access remote networkmanagement platform 320 from, for instance, client devices 302, orpotentially from a client device outside of managed network 300. By wayof the web-based portals, users may design, test, and deployapplications, generate reports, view analytics, and perform other tasks.

As shown in FIG. 3, remote network management platform 320 includes fourcomputational instances 322, 324, 326, and 328. Each of these instancesmay represent one or more server devices and/or one or more databasesthat provide a set of web portals, services, and applications (e.g., awholly-functioning aPaaS system) available to a particular customer. Insome cases, a single customer may use multiple computational instances.For example, managed network 300 may be an enterprise customer of remotenetwork management platform 320, and may use computational instances322, 324, and 326. The reason for providing multiple instances to onecustomer is that the customer may wish to independently develop, test,and deploy its applications and services. Thus, computational instance322 may be dedicated to application development related to managednetwork 300, computational instance 324 may be dedicated to testingthese applications, and computational instance 326 may be dedicated tothe live operation of tested applications and services. A computationalinstance may also be referred to as a hosted instance, a remoteinstance, a customer instance, or by some other designation. Anyapplication deployed onto a computational instance may be a scopedapplication, in that its access to databases within the computationalinstance can be restricted to certain elements therein (e.g., one ormore particular database tables or particular rows with one or moredatabase tables).

For purpose of clarity, the disclosure herein refers to the physicalhardware, software, and arrangement thereof as a “computationalinstance.” Note that users may colloquially refer to the graphical userinterfaces provided thereby as “instances.” But unless it is definedotherwise herein, a “computational instance” is a computing systemdisposed within remote network management platform 320.

The multi-instance architecture of remote network management platform320 is in contrast to conventional multi-tenant architectures, overwhich multi-instance architectures exhibit several advantages. Inmulti-tenant architectures, data from different customers (e.g.,enterprises) are comingled in a single database. While these customers'data are separate from one another, the separation is enforced by thesoftware that operates the single database. As a consequence, a securitybreach in this system may impact all customers' data, creatingadditional risk, especially for entities subject to governmental,healthcare, and/or financial regulation. Furthermore, any databaseoperations that impact one customer will likely impact all customerssharing that database. Thus, if there is an outage due to hardware orsoftware errors, this outage affects all such customers. Likewise, ifthe database is to be upgraded to meet the needs of one customer, itwill be unavailable to all customers during the upgrade process. Often,such maintenance windows will be long, due to the size of the shareddatabase.

In contrast, the multi-instance architecture provides each customer withits own database in a dedicated computing instance. This preventscomingling of customer data, and allows each instance to beindependently managed. For example, when one customer's instanceexperiences an outage due to errors or an upgrade, other computationalinstances are not impacted. Maintenance down time is limited because thedatabase only contains one customer's data. Further, the simpler designof the multi-instance architecture allows redundant copies of eachcustomer database and instance to be deployed in a geographicallydiverse fashion. This facilitates high availability, where the liveversion of the customer's instance can be moved when faults are detectedor maintenance is being performed.

In some embodiments, remote network management platform 320 may includeone or more central instances, controlled by the entity that operatesthis platform. Like a computational instance, a central instance mayinclude some number of physical or virtual servers and database devices.Such a central instance may serve as a repository for data that can beshared amongst at least some of the computational instances. Forinstance, definitions of common security threats that could occur on thecomputational instances, software packages that are commonly discoveredon the computational instances, and/or an application store forapplications that can be deployed to the computational instances mayreside in a central instance. Computational instances may communicatewith central instances by way of well-defined interfaces in order toobtain this data.

In order to support multiple computational instances in an efficientfashion, remote network management platform 320 may implement aplurality of these instances on a single hardware platform. For example,when the aPaaS system is implemented on a server cluster such as servercluster 200, it may operate a virtual machine that dedicates varyingamounts of computational, storage, and communication resources toinstances. But full virtualization of server cluster 200 might not benecessary, and other mechanisms may be used to separate instances. Insome examples, each instance may have a dedicated account and one ormore dedicated databases on server cluster 200. Alternatively,computational instance 322 may span multiple physical devices.

In some cases, a single server cluster of remote network managementplatform 320 may support multiple independent enterprises. Furthermore,as described below, remote network management platform 320 may includemultiple server clusters deployed in geographically diverse data centersin order to facilitate load balancing, redundancy, and/or highavailability.

Third-party networks 340 may be remote server devices (e.g., a pluralityof server clusters such as server cluster 200) that can be used foroutsourced computational, data storage, communication, and servicehosting operations. These servers may be virtualized (i.e., the serversmay be virtual machines). Examples of third-party networks 340 mayinclude AMAZON WEB SERVICES® and MICROSOFT® AZURE®. Like remote networkmanagement platform 320, multiple server clusters supporting third-partynetworks 340 may be deployed at geographically diverse locations forpurposes of load balancing, redundancy, and/or high availability.

Managed network 300 may use one or more of third-party networks 340 todeploy applications and services to its clients and customers. Forinstance, if managed network 300 provides online music streamingservices, third-party networks 340 may store the music files and provideweb interface and streaming capabilities. In this way, the enterprise ofmanaged network 300 does not have to build and maintain its own serversfor these operations.

Remote network management platform 320 may include modules thatintegrate with third-party networks 340 to expose virtual machines andmanaged services therein to managed network 300. The modules may allowusers to request virtual resources and provide flexible reporting forthird-party networks 340. In order to establish this functionality, auser from managed network 300 might first establish an account withthird-party networks 340, and request a set of associated resources.Then, the user may enter the account information into the appropriatemodules of remote network management platform 320. These modules maythen automatically discover the manageable resources in the account, andalso provide reports related to usage, performance, and billing.

Internet 350 may represent a portion of the global Internet. However,Internet 350 may alternatively represent a different type of network,such as a private wide-area or local-area packet-switched network.

FIG. 4 further illustrates the communication environment between managednetwork 300 and computational instance 322, and introduces additionalfeatures and alternative embodiments. In FIG. 4, computational instance322 is replicated across data centers 400A and 400B. These data centersmay be geographically distant from one another, perhaps in differentcities or different countries. Each data center includes supportequipment that facilitates communication with managed network 300, aswell as remote users.

In data center 400A, network traffic to and from external devices flowseither through VPN gateway 402A or firewall 404A. VPN gateway 402A maybe peered with VPN gateway 412 of managed network 300 by way of asecurity protocol such as Internet Protocol Security (IPSEC) orTransport Layer Security (TLS). Firewall 404A may be configured to allowaccess from authorized users, such as user 414 and remote user 416, andto deny access to unauthorized users. By way of firewall 404A, theseusers may access computational instance 322, and possibly othercomputational instances. Load balancer 406A may be used to distributetraffic amongst one or more physical or virtual server devices that hostcomputational instance 322. Load balancer 406A may simplify user accessby hiding the internal configuration of data center 400A, (e.g.,computational instance 322) from client devices. For instance, ifcomputational instance 322 includes multiple physical or virtualcomputing devices that share access to multiple databases, load balancer406A may distribute network traffic and processing tasks across thesecomputing devices and databases so that no one computing device ordatabase is significantly busier than the others. In some embodiments,computational instance 322 may include VPN gateway 402A, firewall 404A,and load balancer 406A.

Data center 400B may include its own versions of the components in datacenter 400A. Thus, VPN gateway 402B, firewall 404B, and load balancer406B may perform the same or similar operations as VPN gateway 402A,firewall 404A, and load balancer 406A, respectively. Further, by way ofreal-time or near-real-time database replication and/or otheroperations, computational instance 322 may exist simultaneously in datacenters 400A and 400B.

Data centers 400A and 400B as shown in FIG. 4 may facilitate redundancyand high availability. In the configuration of FIG. 4, data center 400Ais active and data center 400B is passive. Thus, data center 400A isserving all traffic to and from managed network 300, while the versionof computational instance 322 in data center 400B is being updated innear-real-time. Other configurations, such as one in which both datacenters are active, may be supported.

Should data center 400A fail in some fashion or otherwise becomeunavailable to users, data center 400B can take over as the active datacenter. For example, domain name system (DNS) servers that associate adomain name of computational instance 322 with one or more InternetProtocol (IP) addresses of data center 400A may re-associate the domainname with one or more IP addresses of data center 400B. After thisre-association completes (which may take less than one second or severalseconds), users may access computational instance 322 by way of datacenter 400B.

FIG. 4 also illustrates a possible configuration of managed network 300.As noted above, proxy servers 312 and user 414 may access computationalinstance 322 through firewall 310. Proxy servers 312 may also accessconfiguration items 410. In FIG. 4, configuration items 410 may refer toany or all of client devices 302, server devices 304, routers 306, andvirtual machines 308, any applications or services executing thereon, aswell as relationships between devices, applications, and services. Thus,the term “configuration items” may be shorthand for any physical orvirtual device, or any application or service remotely discoverable ormanaged by computational instance 322, or relationships betweendiscovered devices, applications, and services. Configuration items maybe represented in a configuration management database (CMDB) ofcomputational instance 322.

As noted above, VPN gateway 412 may provide a dedicated VPN to VPNgateway 402A. Such a VPN may be helpful when there is a significantamount of traffic between managed network 300 and computational instance322, or security policies otherwise suggest or require use of a VPNbetween these sites. In some embodiments, any device in managed network300 and/or computational instance 322 that directly communicates via theVPN is assigned a public IP address. Other devices in managed network300 and/or computational instance 322 may be assigned private IPaddresses (e.g., IP addresses selected from the 10.0.0.0-10.255.255.255or 192.168.0.0-192.168.255.255 ranges, represented in shorthand assubnets 10.0.0.0/8 and 192.168.0.0/16, respectively).

IV. EXAMPLE DEVICE, APPLICATION, AND SERVICE DISCOVERY

In order for remote network management platform 320 to administer thedevices, applications, and services of managed network 300, remotenetwork management platform 320 may first determine what devices arepresent in managed network 300, the configurations and operationalstatuses of these devices, and the applications and services provided bythe devices, and well as the relationships between discovered devices,applications, and services. As noted above, each device, application,service, and relationship may be referred to as a configuration item.The process of defining configuration items within managed network 300is referred to as discovery, and may be facilitated at least in part byproxy servers 312.

For purpose of the embodiments herein, an “application” may refer to oneor more processes, threads, programs, client modules, server modules, orany other software that executes on a device or group of devices. A“service” may refer to a high-level capability provided by multipleapplications executing on one or more devices working in conjunctionwith one another. For example, a high-level web service may involvemultiple web application server threads executing on one device andaccessing information from a database application that executes onanother device.

FIG. 5A provides a logical depiction of how configuration items can bediscovered, as well as how information related to discoveredconfiguration items can be stored. For sake of simplicity, remotenetwork management platform 320, third-party networks 340, and Internet350 are not shown.

In FIG. 5A, CMDB 500 and task list 502 are stored within computationalinstance 322. Computational instance 322 may transmit discovery commandsto proxy servers 312. In response, proxy servers 312 may transmit probesto various devices, applications, and services in managed network 300.These devices, applications, and services may transmit responses toproxy servers 312, and proxy servers 312 may then provide informationregarding discovered configuration items to CMDB 500 for storagetherein. Configuration items stored in CMDB 500 represent theenvironment of managed network 300.

Task list 502 represents a list of activities that proxy servers 312 areto perform on behalf of computational instance 322. As discovery takesplace, task list 502 is populated. Proxy servers 312 repeatedly querytask list 502, obtain the next task therein, and perform this task untiltask list 502 is empty or another stopping condition has been reached.

To facilitate discovery, proxy servers 312 may be configured withinformation regarding one or more subnets in managed network 300 thatare reachable by way of proxy servers 312. For instance, proxy servers312 may be given the IP address range 192.168.0/24 as a subnet. Then,computational instance 322 may store this information in CMDB 500 andplace tasks in task list 502 for discovery of devices at each of theseaddresses.

FIG. 5A also depicts devices, applications, and services in managednetwork 300 as configuration items 504, 506, 508, 510, and 512. As notedabove, these configuration items represent a set of physical and/orvirtual devices (e.g., client devices, server devices, routers, orvirtual machines), applications executing thereon (e.g., web servers,email servers, databases, or storage arrays), relationshipstherebetween, as well as services that involve multiple individualconfiguration items.

Placing the tasks in task list 502 may trigger or otherwise cause proxyservers 312 to begin discovery. Alternatively or additionally, discoverymay be manually triggered or automatically triggered based on triggeringevents (e.g., discovery may automatically begin once per day at aparticular time).

In general, discovery may proceed in four logical phases: scanning,classification, identification, and exploration. Each phase of discoveryinvolves various types of probe messages being transmitted by proxyservers 312 to one or more devices in managed network 300. The responsesto these probes may be received and processed by proxy servers 312, andrepresentations thereof may be transmitted to CMDB 500. Thus, each phasecan result in more configuration items being discovered and stored inCMDB 500.

In the scanning phase, proxy servers 312 may probe each IP address inthe specified range of IP addresses for open Transmission ControlProtocol (TCP) and/or User Datagram Protocol (UDP) ports to determinethe general type of device. The presence of such open ports at an IPaddress may indicate that a particular application is operating on thedevice that is assigned the IP address, which in turn may identify theoperating system used by the device. For example, if TCP port 135 isopen, then the device is likely executing a WINDOWS® operating system.Similarly, if TCP port 22 is open, then the device is likely executing aUNIX® operating system, such as LINUX®. If UDP port 161 is open, thenthe device may be able to be further identified through the SimpleNetwork Management Protocol (SNMP). Other possibilities exist. Once thepresence of a device at a particular IP address and its open ports havebeen discovered, these configuration items are saved in CMDB 500.

In the classification phase, proxy servers 312 may further probe eachdiscovered device to determine the version of its operating system. Theprobes used for a particular device are based on information gatheredabout the devices during the scanning phase. For example, if a device isfound with TCP port 22 open, a set of UNIX®-specific probes may be used.Likewise, if a device is found with TCP port 135 open, a set ofWINDOWS®-specific probes may be used. For either case, an appropriateset of tasks may be placed in task list 502 for proxy servers 312 tocarry out. These tasks may result in proxy servers 312 logging on, orotherwise accessing information from the particular device. Forinstance, if TCP port 22 is open, proxy servers 312 may be instructed toinitiate a Secure Shell (SSH) connection to the particular device andobtain information about the operating system thereon from particularlocations in the file system. Based on this information, the operatingsystem may be determined. As an example, a UNIX® device with TCP port 22open may be classified as AIX®, HPUX, LINUX®, MACOS®, or SOLARIS®. Thisclassification information may be stored as one or more configurationitems in CMDB 500.

In the identification phase, proxy servers 312 may determine specificdetails about a classified device. The probes used during this phase maybe based on information gathered about the particular devices during theclassification phase. For example, if a device was classified as LINUX®,a set of LINUX®-specific probes may be used. Likewise, if a device wasclassified as WINDOWS® 2012, as a set of WINDOWS®-2012-specific probesmay be used. As was the case for the classification phase, anappropriate set of tasks may be placed in task list 502 for proxyservers 312 to carry out. These tasks may result in proxy servers 312reading information from the particular device, such as basicinput/output system (BIOS) information, serial numbers, networkinterface information, media access control address(es) assigned tothese network interface(s), IP address(es) used by the particular deviceand so on. This identification information may be stored as one or moreconfiguration items in CMDB 500.

In the exploration phase, proxy servers 312 may determine furtherdetails about the operational state of a classified device. The probesused during this phase may be based on information gathered about theparticular devices during the classification phase and/or theidentification phase. Again, an appropriate set of tasks may be placedin task list 502 for proxy servers 312 to carry out. These tasks mayresult in proxy servers 312 reading additional information from theparticular device, such as processor information, memory information,lists of running processes (applications), and so on. Once more, thediscovered information may be stored as one or more configuration itemsin CMDB 500.

Running discovery on a network device, such as a router, may utilizeSNMP. Instead of or in addition to determining a list of runningprocesses or other application-related information, discovery maydetermine additional subnets known to the router and the operationalstate of the router's network interfaces (e.g., active, inactive, queuelength, number of packets dropped, etc.). The IP addresses of theadditional subnets may be candidates for further discovery procedures.Thus, discovery may progress iteratively or recursively.

Once discovery completes, a snapshot representation of each discovereddevice, application, and service is available in CMDB 500. For example,after discovery, operating system version, hardware configuration andnetwork configuration details for client devices, server devices, androuters in managed network 300, as well as applications executingthereon, may be stored. This collected information may be presented to auser in various ways to allow the user to view the hardware compositionand operational status of devices, as well as the characteristics ofservices that span multiple devices and applications.

Furthermore, CMDB 500 may include entries regarding dependencies andrelationships between configuration items. More specifically, anapplication that is executing on a particular server device, as well asthe services that rely on this application, may be represented as suchin CMDB 500. For instance, suppose that a database application isexecuting on a server device, and that this database application is usedby a new employee onboarding service as well as a payroll service. Thus,if the server device is taken out of operation for maintenance, it isclear that the employee onboarding service and payroll service will beimpacted. Likewise, the dependencies and relationships betweenconfiguration items may be able to represent the services impacted whena particular router fails.

In general, dependencies and relationships between configuration itemsmay be displayed on a web-based interface and represented in ahierarchical fashion. Thus, adding, changing, or removing suchdependencies and relationships may be accomplished by way of thisinterface.

Furthermore, users from managed network 300 may develop workflows thatallow certain coordinated activities to take place across multiplediscovered devices. For instance, an IT workflow might allow the user tochange the common administrator password to all discovered LINUX®devices in a single operation.

In order for discovery to take place in the manner described above,proxy servers 312, CMDB 500, and/or one or more credential stores may beconfigured with credentials for one or more of the devices to bediscovered. Credentials may include any type of information needed inorder to access the devices. These may include userid/password pairs,certificates, and so on. In some embodiments, these credentials may bestored in encrypted fields of CMDB 500. Proxy servers 312 may containthe decryption key for the credentials so that proxy servers 312 can usethese credentials to log on to or otherwise access devices beingdiscovered.

The discovery process is depicted as a flow chart in FIG. 5B. At block520, the task list in the computational instance is populated, forinstance, with a range of IP addresses. At block 522, the scanning phasetakes place. Thus, the proxy servers probe the IP addresses for devicesusing these IP addresses, and attempt to determine the operating systemsthat are executing on these devices. At block 524, the classificationphase takes place. The proxy servers attempt to determine the operatingsystem version of the discovered devices. At block 526, theidentification phase takes place. The proxy servers attempt to determinethe hardware and/or software configuration of the discovered devices. Atblock 528, the exploration phase takes place. The proxy servers attemptto determine the operational state and applications executing on thediscovered devices. At block 530, further editing of the configurationitems representing the discovered devices and applications may takeplace. This editing may be automated and/or manual in nature.

The blocks represented in FIG. 5B are for purpose of example. Discoverymay be a highly configurable procedure that can have more or fewerphases, and the operations of each phase may vary. In some cases, one ormore phases may be customized, or may otherwise deviate from theexemplary descriptions above.

V. IMPROVED GRAPHICAL LANE MANAGEMENT

As described herein, the term “information items” may refer to dataassociated with managed network 300 and/or computational instance 322.For example, information items may include tasks that are to becompleted by the entity associated with managed network 300,computational resources utilized by managed network 300, and so on.Within a GUI, information items may be represented as graphicalelements, or herein referred to as “cards”. As also described herein,“parallel lanes” may be GUI components that can be used to structure thedisplay of cards within a GUI. The GUIs and/or parallel lanes describedherein may be provided to users when they access a computationalinstance on a remote network management platform, such as computationalinstance 322 within remote network management platform 320 as describedin FIG. 3.

As previously described, if a GUI contains a large enough number ofparallel lanes, then only a portion of the GUI can be viewed on adigital display. And as a result, the process of finding relevantinformation on the GUI may be unduly time consuming for users. Theembodiments herein address these limitations with a reordering techniquethat can modify the order of a particular parallel lane. As a result ofthese embodiments, users can be provided with an intuitive procedure toquickly redesign a GUI to support their individual requirements. Anexample GUI 600 is shown in FIGS. 6A, 6B, 6C, 6D, and 6E. As illustratedby the description below, the variation of GUI 600 from FIG. 6A to FIG.6E can represent how a user can modify the ordering of a particularparallel lane in GUI 600.

Moreover, while the embodiments herein may be discussed in connectionwith GUIs related with task management applications, information itemsthat represent tasks, and parallel lanes that represent categories ofthose tasks, these are used solely as a convenient conceptualrepresentation and are not intended to be limiting with respect toexample embodiments or techniques described herein. In practice, theembodiments or techniques described herein can be applied across a widevariety of scenarios that involve GUIs with parallel lanes and graphicalelements (e.g., cards, containers, or widgets) disposed within thoseparallel lanes.

FIG. 6A depicts a view of GUI 600 with expanded parallel lanes, inaccordance with example embodiments. GUI 600 of FIG. 6A includes cards602 and 604, headers 610A, 610B, 610C, 610D, and 610E, parallel lanes620A and 620B, and handle components 622A and 622B.

Cards 602 and 604 may be visual user interface elements that representinformation items. In particular, cards 602 and 604 may be two cards ofa plurality of cards on GUI 600. The data used to populate cards 602 and604 may be stored, for example, in persistent storage on computationalinstance 322 and provided to the user upon requesting GUI 600.

Cards 602 and 604 may display the caption/title of the information itemsthat they represent. For example, card 602 may be titled “Favorite iconsrefresh” and card 604 may be titled “Fredwin cycling app should re . . .,” (where GUI 600 omits the remaining part of the caption/title forbrevity). Additionally, cards 602 and 604 can display metrics, such asthe date the card was created, users assigned to the card, and so on.

Headers 610A-610E may represent a status of an information item. Forexample, given that information items can represent tasks that are to becompleted by the entity associated with managed network 300, the status(e.g., empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test) may specify theprogress towards the completion of the task. The data to (i) define thestatuses and (ii) to associate each information item with a status maybe stored, for example, in persistent storage on computational instance322 and provided to the user upon requesting GUI 600.

As shown in FIG. 6A, each card on GUI 600 may be aligned with a headerthat corresponds to a status associated with the card. For instance,both card 602 and 604 may be aligned with header 610A, indicating thatthe information items represented by the card 602 and 604 have an“empathize” status. Cards on GUI 600 may be restricted from beingaligned with more than one header at once.

In operation, the alignment of cards with headers 610A-610E may beuniform across all users of GUI 600. That is, each user of GUI 600 mayobserve an identical ordering of headers 610A-610E and an identicalalignment of cards with headers 610A-610E. For instance, card 602 may bein alignment with header 610A across all users of GUI 600. And in theevent that card 602 becomes aligned with a different header, forexample, header 610B, computational instance 322 may be configured to(i) receive information regarding this change and (ii) update GUI 600 todisplay the new alignment across all users of GUI 600.

Parallel lanes 620A and 620B may be graphical lanes that representcategorical groupings of cards on the GUI 600. For example, parallellanes 620A and 620B can represent priorities (high, medium, low, and soon), and/or departments (e.g., marketing, HR, finance, and so on).Similarly to headers 610A-610E, the data to (i) define the categoricalgroups and (ii) to associate each information item with a categoricalgroup, may be stored, for example, in persistent storage oncomputational instance 322 and provided to the user upon requesting GUI600.

As shown in FIG. 6A, each card on GUI 600 may be located within aparallel lane that corresponds to a categorical group associated withthe card. For instance, card 602 may be located in parallel lane 620A,indicating that the information item represented by card 602 is in a“high priority” categorical group, whereas card 604 may be located inparallel lane 620B, indicating that information item represented by card604 is an “in progress” categorical group. Cards on GUI 600 may berestricted from being located in more than one categorical group atonce.

In operation, the order of parallel lanes 620A and 620B may be definedon a per user basis. That is, each user of GUI 600 may rearrange theordering of parallel lanes 620A and 620B without affecting the orderingof another user's arrangement. For instance, one user may arrange forparallel lane 620A to be located above parallel lane 620B, while anotheruser may arrange for parallel lane 620B to be located above parallellane 620A. And in the event that a particular user reorders parallellanes 620A and 620B, computational instance 322 may be configured toreceive information regarding this change and may store the informationas a logical ordering associated with that particular user. Then, if theparticular user makes an additional request to computational instance322 for GUI 600, the stored logical ordering of parallel lanes 620A and620B for the particular user will be displayed. Advantageously, thisproperty can allow users of GUI 600 to customize their own display ofGUI 600.

In line with the discussion above, each parallel lane may contain ahandle component to allow users to drag the parallel lane into a newposition on GUI 600. For example, parallel lane 620A contains handlecomponent 622A and parallel lane 620B contains handle component 622B. Insome cases, parallel lanes 620A and 620B can be parallel to the x-axisof GUI 600 and draggable, via handle components 622A and 622B, along adirection substantially perpendicular to the x-axis of GUI 600. In othercases (not shown), parallel lanes 620A and 620B can be parallel to they-axis of GUI 600 and draggable, via handle components 622A and 622B,along a direction substantially perpendicular to the y-axis of GUI 600.As used herein, the term “substantially” can mean being largely, but notwholly of what is specified. For example, “a direction substantiallyperpendicular” can mean a direction that is completely perpendicular(i.e., at a 90 degree angle) or a direction that is more perpendicularthan not (e.g., at an 80-100 degree angle or a 50-130 degree angle).

Similarly, each card on GUI 600 may also contain a handle component (notshown) that allows users to (i) drag the card from one parallel laneinto another parallel lane and/or (ii) drag the card from being alignedwith one header to being aligned with another header. For example, ifthe information item represented by card 604 becomes high priority, theuser can drag card 604 from parallel lane 620B to parallel lane 620A.And as another example, if the information item represented by card 604is to receive a “define” status, the user can drag card 604 from beingaligned with header 610A to being aligned with header 610B. In practice,dragging a card on GUI 600 can involve a user (i) selecting (orotherwise activating) a handle component located within the card, (ii)dragging/sliding, via the handle component, the card among the pluralityof cards of GUI 600, and (iii) releasing the card into alignment with adifferent header and/or parallel lane. Once the card is released, theresulting header/parallel lane of the card may be transmitted topersistent storage on computational instance 322.

FIG. 6B depicts a view of GUI 600 with semi-collapsed parallel lanes, inaccordance with example embodiments. The view of FIG. 6B may bedisplayed, for example, when a user initially selects and begins to draghandle component 622B of parallel lane 620B, as illustrated by drag icon624. GUI 600 of FIG. 6B includes the same cards 602 and 604, headers610A, 610B, 610C, 610D, and 610E, parallel lanes 620A and 620B, andhandle components 622A and 622B as FIG. 6A, but also includes parallellanes 620C, 620D and 620E and drag icon 624, which are not shown in FIG.6A.

As may be seen by comparing FIG. 6A to FIG. 6B, the initial selectionand dragging of parallel lane 620B can alter the view of GUI 600. Inparticular, FIG. 6A illustrates a view of GUI 600 with expanded parallellanes whereas FIG. 6B illustrates a view of GUI 600 with semi-collapsedparallel lanes. As used herein, “semi-collapsed” parallel lanes mayrefer to parallel lanes that display only a portion of their respectiveset of cards, whereas “expanded” parallel lanes may refer to parallellanes that display more cards than semi-collapsed parallel lanes,perhaps displaying all of their respective set of cards.

Transitioning from expanded parallel lanes to semi-collapsed parallellanes may be beneficial to users of GUI 600. Because they no longerdisplay the complete set of cards, the semi-collapsed parallel lanes ofFIG. 6B may be substantially narrower than the expanded parallel lanesof FIG. 6A, allowing for a greater total number of parallel lanes to bedisplayed on GUI 600. For example, parallel lanes 620C-620E, which couldnot be previously viewed in FIG. 6A, can now be viewed in FIG. 6B.Advantageously, users of GUI 600 may now have a more comprehensive viewof many (or all) of the parallel lanes available on GUI 600, which canprovide greater insight into the lanes available for repositioning.Other benefits are also possible.

Moreover, recall that as used herein the term “substantially” can meanbeing largely, but not wholly of what is specified. For example,“substantially narrower” parallel lanes can refer to parallel lanes thatare more than 50% narrower their expanded size. Or, “substantiallynarrower” parallel lanes can refer parallel lanes that are more than 10%narrower of their expanded size. Other examples are also possible.

FIG. 6C depicts a view of GUI 600 with collapsed parallel lanes, inaccordance with example embodiments. The view of FIG. 6C may bedisplayed, for example, when the user continues to drag handle component622B of parallel lane 620B such that cards are no longer displayed onGUI 600. This continued dragging is illustrated by drag icon 624. GUI600 of FIG. 6C includes the same headers 610A, 610B, 610C, 610D, and610E, parallel lanes 620A, 620B, 620C, 620D, and 620E, handle component622B, and drag icon 624 as FIG. 6B. However, GUI 600 in FIG. 6C does notdisplay cards 602 and 604, which are now hidden in from view. Also notethat handle component 622A is omitted from FIG. 6C for purpose ofbrevity.

As may be seen by comparing FIG. 6C to FIG. 6B, the continued draggingof parallel lane 620B can further alter the view of GUI 600. Inparticular, FIG. 6C illustrates a view of GUI 600 with collapsedparallel lanes. As used herein, “collapsed” parallel lanes may refer toparallel lanes that do not display their respective set of cards. Oncethe parallel lanes are collapsed, a user may be able to modify theposition of parallel lane 620B by dragging handle component 622B towardsthe current position of another parallel lane. For example, if the userdrags handle component 622B downward, the position of parallel lane 620Band 620D may switch. And if the user drags handle component 622B upward,the position of parallel lane 620B and 620A may switch.

FIG. 6D depicts a view of GUI 600 with reordered parallel lanes, inaccordance with example embodiments. The view of FIG. 6D may bedisplayed, for example, when a user drags the handle component 622B ofparallel lane 620B above parallel lanes 620C and 620A. Such dragging isfurther illustrated with drag icon 624. GUI 600 of FIG. 6D includes thesame headers 610A, 610B, 610C, 610D, and 610E, parallel lanes 620A,620B, 620C, 620D, and 620E, handle component 622B, and drag icon 624 asFIG. 6C.

As may be seen by comparing FIG. 6D to FIG. 6C, the position of parallellane 620B has been reordered by the user. By dragging handle component622B above parallel lanes 620C and 620A, the user has reordered theposition of parallel lane 620B. At this point, the user may choose torelease the handle component 622B of parallel lane 620B.

FIG. 6E depicts a view of GUI 600 with reordered and expanded parallellanes, in accordance with example embodiments. The view of FIG. 6E maybe displayed, for example, when a user releases the handle component622B of parallel lane 620B after positioning parallel lane 620B aboveparallel lanes 620C and 620A. GUI 600 of FIG. 6E includes the sameheaders 610A, 610B, 610C, 610D, and 610E, parallel lanes 620B and 620C,and handle component 622B as FIG. 6D, but also includes card 604, whichis not displayed in FIG. 6D. However, GUI 600 in FIG. 6E does notparallel lanes 620A, 620D, and 620E or drag icon 624, which are nowhidden from view.

As may be seen by comparing FIG. 6E to FIG. 6D, the release of handlecomponent 622B can cause the parallel lanes of GUI 600 to automaticallyexpand and display their respective sets of cards in accordance with thenew ordering. For example, parallel lane 620B, which contains card 6044,is now located at the top of GUI 600 and above parallel lane 620C. Atthis point, the user can decide to reorder another parallel lane, forexample, parallel lane 620C or can decide, for the time being, to ceasereordering parallel lanes.

VI. EXAMPLE OPERATIONS

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating an example embodiment. The processillustrated by FIG. 7 may be carried out by a computing device, such ascomputing device 100, and/or a cluster of computing devices, such asserver cluster 200. However, the process can be carried out by othertypes of devices or device subsystems. For example, the process could becarried out by a portable computer, such as a laptop or a tablet device.

The embodiments of FIG. 7 may be simplified by the removal of any one ormore of the features shown therein. Further, these embodiments may becombined with features, aspects, and/or implementations of any of theprevious figures or otherwise described herein.

Block 700 involves obtaining, from persistent storage, datarepresenting: (i) a definition of a plurality of categorical groups,(ii) a plurality of information items, each associated with one of thecategorical groups, and (iii) a definition of a logical ordering for thecategorical groups.

Block 710 involves transmitting, to a client device, the data andprogram code that instructs the client device to generate and display agraphical user interface using the data. The graphical user interfaceincludes a plurality of parallel lanes, respectively associated with thecategorical groups, displayed according to the logical ordering, andcontaining respective handle components for dragging the parallel lanesin a direction that is substantially perpendicular to the parallellanes. Additionally, each of the parallel lanes are either expanded orcollapsed, where expanded parallel lanes display respective sets ofcards representing the information items of their associated categoricalgroups, and where collapsed parallel lanes do not display theirrespective set of cards. The graphical user interface is also beconfigured such that the selection, dragging, and release of a handlecomponent of a particular parallel lane of the plurality of parallellanes causes the graphical user interface to: (i) upon the selection,automatically collapse a set of the parallel lanes including theparticular parallel lane, (ii) upon the dragging, slide the particularparallel lane as collapsed among the set of the parallel lanes ascollapsed, and (iii) upon the release, automatically expand the set ofthe parallel lanes into a different logical ordering defined by wherethe particular parallel lane was released.

In some embodiments, the set of the parallel lanes is the plurality ofparallel lanes.

In some embodiments, the logical ordering for the categorical groups isper-user, and displaying the plurality of parallel lanes is according tothe per-user logical ordering.

In some embodiments, the plurality of parallel lanes are parallel to anx-axis of the graphical user interface and draggable along a y-axis ofthe graphical user interface.

In some embodiments, the plurality of parallel lanes are parallel to ay-axis of the graphical user interface and draggable along an x-axis ofthe graphical user interface.

In some embodiments, the plurality of parallel lanes also containrespective toggles for collapsing and expanding the parallel panes.

In some embodiments, the collapsed parallel lanes are substantiallynarrower than the expanded parallel lanes.

In some embodiments, the persistent storage further contains adefinition of a plurality of statuses, each of the information itemsassociated with respective statuses from the plurality of statuses, andthe graphical user interface includes a plurality of headers,respectively associated with the statuses, and the parallel lanes, whenexpanded, are configured to display cards in the respective sets ofcards in alignment with a header from the plurality of headers thatrepresents the status associated with the information items of thecards.

In some embodiments, the cards in the respective sets of cards aredraggable, and the dragging and release of a particular card in one ofthe sets of cards causes the graphical user interface to: (i) upon thedragging, slide the particular card among the respective sets of cards,and (ii) upon the release, automatically associate the information itemrepresented by the particular card with a different categorical group ora different status defined by whichever parallel lane and/or header inwhich the particular card was released.

In some embodiments, the plurality of headers are defined across users,and displaying each card in the respective sets of cards in alignmentwith the header that represents the status associated with theinformation item of the card is done across users.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart illustrating a second example embodiment. Theprocess illustrated by FIG. 8 may be carried out by a computing device,such as computing device 100, and/or a cluster of computing devices,such as server cluster 200. However, the process can be carried out byother types of devices or device subsystems. For example, the processcould be carried out by a portable computer, such as a laptop or atablet device.

The embodiments of FIG. 8 may be simplified by the removal of any one ormore of the features shown therein. Further, these embodiments may becombined with features, aspects, and/or implementations of any of theprevious figures or otherwise described herein.

Block 800 involves receiving, by a client device and from a serverdevice, data and program code that instructs the client device togenerate and display a graphical user interface using the data, wherethe data represents: (i) a definition of a plurality of categoricalgroups, (ii) a plurality of information items, each associated with oneof the categorical groups, and (iii) a definition of a logical orderingfor the categorical groups.

Block 810 involves generating, at the client device, the graphical userinterface using the data, where the graphical user interface includes aplurality of parallel lanes, respectively associated with thecategorical groups, displayed according to the logical ordering, andcontaining respective handle components for dragging the parallel lanesin a direction that is substantially perpendicular to the parallellanes. Additionally, each of the parallel lanes are either expanded orcollapsed, where expanded parallel lanes display respective sets ofcards representing the information items of their associated categoricalgroup, and where collapsed parallel lanes do not display theirrespective set of cards.

Block 820 involves receiving a selection, by the client device, of ahandle component of a particular parallel lane of the plurality ofparallel lanes, where the selection causes the graphical user interfaceto automatically collapse a set of the parallel lanes including theparticular parallel lane.

Block 830 involves receiving a drag command, by the client device, wherethe drag command causes the graphical user interface to slide theparticular parallel lane as collapsed among the set of the parallellanes as collapsed

Block 840 involves receiving a release command, by the client device,where the release command causes the graphical user interfaceautomatically expand the set of the parallel lanes into a differentlogical ordering defined by where the particular parallel lane wasreleased.

VII. CONCLUSION

The present disclosure is not to be limited in terms of the particularembodiments described in this application, which are intended asillustrations of various aspects. Many modifications and variations canbe made without departing from its scope, as will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art. Functionally equivalent methods and apparatuseswithin the scope of the disclosure, in addition to those describedherein, will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoingdescriptions. Such modifications and variations are intended to fallwithin the scope of the appended claims.

The above detailed description describes various features and operationsof the disclosed systems, devices, and methods with reference to theaccompanying figures. The example embodiments described herein and inthe figures are not meant to be limiting. Other embodiments can beutilized, and other changes can be made, without departing from thescope of the subject matter presented herein. It will be readilyunderstood that the aspects of the present disclosure, as generallydescribed herein, and illustrated in the figures, can be arranged,substituted, combined, separated, and designed in a wide variety ofdifferent configurations.

With respect to any or all of the message flow diagrams, scenarios, andflow charts in the figures and as discussed herein, each step, block,and/or communication can represent a processing of information and/or atransmission of information in accordance with example embodiments.Alternative embodiments are included within the scope of these exampleembodiments. In these alternative embodiments, for example, operationsdescribed as steps, blocks, transmissions, communications, requests,responses, and/or messages can be executed out of order from that shownor discussed, including substantially concurrently or in reverse order,depending on the functionality involved. Further, more or fewer blocksand/or operations can be used with any of the message flow diagrams,scenarios, and flow charts discussed herein, and these message flowdiagrams, scenarios, and flow charts can be combined with one another,in part or in whole.

A step or block that represents a processing of information cancorrespond to circuitry that can be configured to perform the specificlogical functions of a herein-described method or technique.Alternatively or additionally, a step or block that represents aprocessing of information can correspond to a module, a segment, or aportion of program code (including related data). The program code caninclude one or more instructions executable by a processor forimplementing specific logical operations or actions in the method ortechnique. The program code and/or related data can be stored on anytype of computer readable medium such as a storage device including RAM,a disk drive, a solid state drive, or another storage medium.

The computer readable medium can also include non-transitory computerreadable media such as computer readable media that store data for shortperiods of time like register memory and processor cache. The computerreadable media can further include non-transitory computer readablemedia that store program code and/or data for longer periods of time.Thus, the computer readable media may include secondary or persistentlong term storage, like ROM, optical or magnetic disks, solid statedrives, compact-disc read only memory (CD-ROM), for example. Thecomputer readable media can also be any other volatile or non-volatilestorage systems. A computer readable medium can be considered a computerreadable storage medium, for example, or a tangible storage device.

Moreover, a step or block that represents one or more informationtransmissions can correspond to information transmissions betweensoftware and/or hardware modules in the same physical device. However,other information transmissions can be between software modules and/orhardware modules in different physical devices.

The particular arrangements shown in the figures should not be viewed aslimiting. It should be understood that other embodiments can includemore or less of each element shown in a given figure. Further, some ofthe illustrated elements can be combined or omitted. Yet further, anexample embodiment can include elements that are not illustrated in thefigures.

While various aspects and embodiments have been disclosed herein, otheraspects and embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art.The various aspects and embodiments disclosed herein are for purpose ofillustration and are not intended to be limiting, with the true scopebeing indicated by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system comprising: persistent storagecontaining data representing: (i) a definition of a plurality ofcategorical groups, (ii) a plurality of information items, eachassociated with one of the categorical groups, and (iii) a definition ofa logical ordering for the categorical groups; and a server deviceconfigured to transmit, to a client device, the data and program codethat instructs the client device to generate and display a graphicaluser interface using the data, wherein the graphical user interfaceincludes a plurality of parallel lanes, respectively associated with thecategorical groups, displayed according to the logical ordering, andcontaining respective handle components for dragging the parallel lanesin a direction that is substantially perpendicular to the parallellanes, wherein each of the parallel lanes are either expanded orcollapsed, wherein expanded parallel lanes display respective sets ofcards representing the information items of their associated categoricalgroups, wherein collapsed parallel lanes do not display their respectiveset of cards, and wherein selection, dragging, and release of a handlecomponent of a particular parallel lane of the plurality of parallellanes causes the graphical user interface to: (i) upon the selection,automatically collapse a set of the parallel lanes including theparticular parallel lane, (ii) upon the dragging, slide the particularparallel lane as collapsed among the set of the parallel lanes ascollapsed, and (iii) upon the release, automatically expand the set ofthe parallel lanes into a different logical ordering defined by wherethe particular parallel lane was released.
 2. The system of claim 1,wherein the set of the parallel lanes is the plurality of parallellanes.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the logical ordering for thecategorical groups is per-user, and wherein displaying the plurality ofparallel lanes is according to the per-user logical ordering.
 4. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the plurality of parallel lanes are parallelto an x-axis of the graphical user interface and draggable along ay-axis of the graphical user interface.
 5. The system of claim 1,wherein the plurality of parallel lanes are parallel to a y-axis of thegraphical user interface and draggable along an x-axis of the graphicaluser interface.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality ofparallel lanes also contain respective toggles for collapsing andexpanding the parallel lanes.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein thecollapsed parallel lanes are substantially narrower than the expandedparallel lanes.
 8. The system of claim 1, wherein the persistent storagefurther contains a definition of a plurality of statuses, each of theinformation items associated with respective statuses from the pluralityof statuses, wherein the graphical user interface includes a pluralityof headers, respectively associated with the statuses, and wherein theparallel lanes, when expanded, are configured to display cards in therespective sets of cards in alignment with a header from the pluralityof headers that represents the status associated with the informationitems of the cards.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein the cards in therespective sets of cards are draggable, and wherein dragging and releaseof a particular card in one of the sets of cards causes the graphicaluser interface to: (i) upon the dragging, slide the particular cardamong the respective sets of cards, and (ii) upon the release,automatically associating the information item represented by theparticular card with a different categorical group or a different statusdefined by whichever parallel lane and/or header in which the particularcard was released.
 10. The system of claim 8, wherein the plurality ofheaders are defined across users, and wherein displaying cards in therespective sets of cards in alignment with the header that representsthe status associated with the information item of the card is doneacross users.
 11. A computer-implemented method comprising: obtaining,from persistent storage, data representing: (i) a definition of aplurality of categorical groups, (ii) a plurality of information items,each associated with one of the categorical groups, and (iii) adefinition of a logical ordering for the categorical groups; andtransmitting, to a client device, the data and program code thatinstructs the client device to generate and display a graphical userinterface using the data, wherein the graphical user interface includesa plurality of parallel lanes, respectively associated with thecategorical groups, displayed according to the logical ordering, andcontaining respective handle components for dragging the parallel lanesin a direction that is substantially perpendicular to the parallellanes, wherein each of the parallel lanes are either expanded orcollapsed, wherein expanded parallel lanes display respective sets ofcards representing the information items of their associated categoricalgroups, wherein collapsed parallel lanes do not display their respectiveset of cards, and wherein selection, dragging, and release of a handlecomponent of a particular parallel lane causes the graphical userinterface to: (i) upon the selection, automatically collapse a set ofthe parallel lanes including the particular parallel lane, (ii) upon thedragging, slide the particular parallel lane as collapsed among the setof the parallel lanes as collapsed, and (iii) upon the release,automatically expand the set of the parallel lanes into a differentlogical ordering defined by where the particular parallel lane wasreleased.
 12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein theset of the parallel lanes is the plurality of parallel lanes.
 13. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the logical orderingfor the categorical groups is per-user, and wherein displaying theplurality of parallel lanes is according to the per-user logicalordering.
 14. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein theplurality of parallel lanes are parallel to an x-axis of the graphicaluser interface and draggable along a y-axis of the graphical userinterface.
 15. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein theplurality of parallel lanes are parallel to a y-axis of the graphicaluser interface and draggable along an x-axis of the graphical userinterface.
 16. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein theplurality of parallel lanes also contain respective toggles forcollapsing and expanding the parallel lanes.
 17. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the collapsed parallellanes are substantially narrower than the expanded parallel lanes. 18.The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the persistentstorage further contains a definition of a plurality of statuses, eachof the information items associated with respective statuses from theplurality of statuses, wherein the graphical user interface includes aplurality of headers, respectively associated with the statuses, andwherein the parallel lanes, when expanded, are configured to displaycards in the respective sets of cards in alignment with a header fromthe plurality of headers that represents the status associated with theinformation items of the cards.
 19. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 18, wherein the plurality of headers are defined across users, andwherein displaying cards in the respective sets of cards in alignmentwith the header that represents the status associated with theinformation item of the card is done across users.
 20. Acomputer-implemented method comprising: receiving, by a client deviceand from a server device, data and program code that instructs theclient device to generate and display a graphical user interface usingthe data, wherein the data represents: (i) a definition of a pluralityof categorical groups, (ii) a plurality of information items, eachassociated with one of the categorical groups, and (iii) a definition ofa logical ordering for the categorical groups; generating, at the clientdevice, the graphical user interface using the data, wherein thegraphical user interface includes a plurality of parallel lanes,respectively associated with the categorical groups, displayed accordingto the logical ordering, and containing respective handle components fordragging the parallel lanes in a direction that is substantiallyperpendicular to the parallel lanes, and wherein each of the parallellanes are either expanded or collapsed, wherein expanded parallel lanesdisplay respective sets of cards representing the information items oftheir associated categorical group, wherein collapsed parallel lanes donot display their respective set of cards; receiving a selection, by theclient device, of a handle component of a particular parallel lane,wherein the selection causes the graphical user interface toautomatically collapse a set of the parallel lanes including theparticular parallel lane; receiving a drag command, by the clientdevice, wherein the drag command causes the graphical user interface toslide the particular parallel lane as collapsed among the set of theparallel lanes as collapsed; and receiving a release command, by theclient device, wherein the release command causes the graphical userinterface automatically expand the set of the parallel lanes into adifferent logical ordering defined by where the particular parallel lanewas released.